I have to say that I think there is a big difference between what one "can" do and what one "should" do. We often see people on the road towing loads that they ought not to. They may get away with it but it is dangerous to the rest of us. Braking is at least as important as the ability to pull.
My father in law used to pull a 22 foot inboard/outboard with a little front drive Chrysler product with 4 cylinders. I don't recall exactly what it was - maybe a LeBaron (that was close to 20 years ago). At any rate it was silly but he pulled that boat out as much as 200 miles away on weekends. The poor car could hardly pull it out of the water at the ramp. I remember being there once when he wanted us all to push. He stepped on the gas and I swear that the whole car dropped down several inches before it started to move forward but it pulled the boat out. Testimony to the quality of the drivetrain in that Chrysler I guess although I never thought they were all that great at the time. He later swapped to a bigger car - a Buick - and promptly took the tranny out trying to pull the boat - no add on tranny cooler had been installed. I personally like to know there is a frame that the hitch is well attached to. I have receiver hitches on both my 4Runner and F150 and they do reasonably well pulling our boats. I have electric brakes on the bigger boat trailer but have not installed the controller on the pickup yet. If I was going to pull anything really heavy, I would be looking for a 3/4 ton. Randy B -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Dan Weeks Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 2:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [MBZ] Towing Mitch Haley wrote: > As far as boat towing is concerned, I once towed a 2650lb fiberglass > runabout, trailer, 80hp mercruiser combo up into Ontario with my > 93hp, 2.2L Horizon. Didn't encounter my first fourth gear hillclimb > until I was in Michigan's upper penninsula. David Brodbeck wrote: They don't make 'em like they used to, though. I think part of the reason people go to SUVs is most modern cars have really pathetic towing ratings. Even full-sized sedans often can't tow a 2000 pound trailer anymore. The Ford Crown Victoria, which used to be good for a couple of tons, is now limited to 1500 pounds, for example. You pretty much have to get an SUV or pickup to tow anything. Hell, I regularly tow a ton with my turbodiesel vanagon--70 hp, 98 lbs torque--which ITSELF weighs two tons. No problem. It's all in the gearing. My brother has a '42 International K-7. 89 hp six. It'll haul 5 ton on the bed and tow 4 more behind, with ease and grace, tho at a stately pace. 10 gears does it. As for the new cars tow ratings being downgraded, I think that's just to sell more SUVs. Nor would I worry about CV joints. Lots of heavy military AWD trucks do some huge grunting on CVs. I'd tow with my 300SD without hesitation, were it not that the vanagon already has a hitch and those for MBZ seem pretty spendy. Dan -- Dan Weeks 82 VW Westfalia 1.6 TD conversion 186k 82 Mercedes 300SD, 275k _______________________________________ http://www.striplin.net For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
